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Thursday, October 1, 2009

Multi-level Marketing Is Changing The Face Of Business As We Know It

Multilevel Marketing, commonly called MLM or Network Marketing has expanded astronomically over the past 10 years since the introduction of the Internet. It is claimed that more people have become millionaires through MLM than in any other line of business.

The structure of MLM is designed to create a marketing and sales force by compensating promoters of the company products for sales they make, as well as the sales made by promoters they introduced to the company, creating levels of distributors and a hierarchy of multi levels of compensation.

The products and companies are usually marketed directly to consumers and potential business partners by means of referrals and word of mouth marketing.

Although the potential to make a huge sum of money exists, there are some things you need to know about the companies promoting Multi-level Marketing before you join one:

You will to be selling something. It may be a product or a service, but it will be selling. If all the MLM company did was recruit new members, then it is a "Ponzi Scheme" and it is illegal.

The MLM company should have a good product. You can send all the traffic in the world to an MLM website, but if the product it is offering has no appeal, it won't sell no matter what you do. If it doesn't sell, you would make no money.

The MLM company should have "staying power.” That is, it should have the capital and management skills to last for a long time. Many MLMs are gone in a year or two and no matter how well they are now paying you, once they've folded, you won't get any more money.

Plan on working at it for a long time, probably for several years before realizing any significant income. MLMs don't usually build quickly, so you have to be patient and persistent. However, once you become established in the business, your income could increase significantly.

You have probably heard of MLM companies, and maybe you've even been a member of one or more of them. Odds are, if you were a member, you dropped out after a while because it was just too hard to promote their products successfully.

Some MLM companies will even advice you to sell their products to your family members or persuade them to become members. If you have tried doing that you already know it doesn’t work.

If, however, you have done the research on your MLM company then you will have chosen one with a product that has an attraction to a mass market so you are not limited to one demographic of the community. Look at the economic environment, what are the trends or 'boom' industries?

Health, weight management and anti-ageing are some of the fastest growing industries worldwide. A huge market is starting to unfold as the 'baby boomer' generation ages and increasingly becomes more concerned with staying healthy and youthful.

Do not be taken-in by the promise that you will make thousands of dollars in the first 3 months.

What the MLM companies do not tell their members initially is that ‘there is no free lunch’. To succeed in business you need to learn personal and business skills, and that involves long hours of reading and applying what you read.

If you have made no money yet, simply being involved with a MLM company is a reward in itself. The good MLM companies are very proactive in the area of personal development, which is the key to business success.

Your business failure may not be entirely the fault of the MLM company. Perhaps it is time to change your business strategy, or even change the MLM company you are presently doing business with. Perhaps you need to talk with a small business consultant for help on developing a new business plan.